Is the American Dream Still Attainable?
The American Dream is the aspiration that anyone in the world with different backgrounds can be successful in the United States to move up in the society that they are in. Earlier in the United States, America used to be a place where immigrants from diverse backgrounds came together to define their own success. Since then, population from all over the world filled up America, and the United States became an independent country. Even after the declaration of independence, greater population explored the United States to reach the American Dream. Now, however, after approximately two centuries and a half since the declaration of independence, the idea of the American Dream seems to be dying because of stabilized capitalism with greater income inequality within the American society.
Income Inequality refers to the inequality in the division of wealth. Specifically in the United States, the gap between the rich and the poor has been growing. While Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve Chairman, states that the U.S. Economy is in a “good place,” he recognized income inequality as the biggest challenge in the next 10 years. Seeing the growing trend in the gap, the United States is slowly turning into a place where the American Dream is not attainable.
In 2015, according to Economic Policy Institute, the average income of bottom 99 percent was $50,107 per family. To earn the top 1 percent of income level, a family would have to earn $421,996 in pre-tax dollars. Moreover, according to a study by the EPI, CEOs’ were used to be paid 20 times the typical workers’ pay in 1965, and now the CEOs, on average, get paid 271 times more than the typical workers. This increase in the income of senior, wealthy people led to a faster increase in the top 1 percent earners’ income level than the other 99 percent earners’ income level. According to Economic Policy Institute’s data, New York has the biggest gap between the average income level of the top 1 percent and the bottom 99 percent. The gap between the two is $2,152,863.
While the U.S. economy is doing a great job with sustaining low unemployment rate and fast GDP growth, the state of the U.S. economy is still questionable. Although low unemployment and faster GDP growth is a good news, the division of wealth in this “good” period of the U.S. economy is not actually making the U.S. economy to be sustainable in the long-term.
Although the United States used to be a place where social mobility was easier compared to many other countries around the world, seeing the unfair division of wealth, it seems like the United States can no longer provide the opportunities that it used to.
All in all, even though the U.S. economy seems good on the outside, it does not seem good in the inside. If the United States government or the Federal Reserve is not concerned about the income equality as much as they should be, the United States will not be able to prevent future problems from the unfair division of wealth; this will potentially lead the U.S. economy to experience slower economic growth.
Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/19/income-inequality-continues-to-grow-in-the-united-states.html
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/american-dream.asp
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/behold-america-american-dream-slogan-book-sarah-churchwell-180970311/
http://www.faireconomy.org/why_is_income_inequality_bad
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/19/income-inequality-continues-to-grow-in-the-united-states.html
